YYI 


John  F.  Goucher 
Number- 


The  Negro  Seer 


HIS  PREPARATION  AND  MISSION. 

BY 


R S.  LOVINGGOOD,  A.  M., 

PRESIDENT  SAMUEL  HUSTON  COLLEGE. 
AUSTIN.  TEXAS. 


COMMENCEMENT  ADDRESS, 

DELIVERED  JUNE  4,  1907, 


AT 


PRAIRIE  VIEW  STATE  NORMAL 
AND 

INDUSTRIAL  COLLEGE, 
PRAIRIE  VIEW,  TEXAS. 


R.  S.  LOVINGGOOD.  A.  M. 


Jslm  Wa  (Voucher 
Nqmbftr , 


Nrgrn  Hf  is  piTparation  an&  Httissimi. 


I am  glad  I am  not  an  ox.  With  Terence,  I say, 
“I  am  a man.”  Man  is  just  a little  lower  than  the 
angels.  He  carries  tfie  impress  of  divinity;  is  dif- 
ferentiated from  other  animals  by  the  moral  element, 
the  faculty  of  reason,  and  a superior  mentality  which 
is  capable  of  a marvelous  development.  These  char- 
acteristics belong  to  every  variety  of  the  human  race. 
Nevertheless,  in  1861,  at  Savannah,  Georgia,  Senator 
A.  H.  Stevens  declared  that  the  foundations  of  the 
Confederacy  ‘‘are  laid,  its  corner  stone  rests  upon  the 
great  truth  that  the  Negro  is  not  equal  to  the  white 
man,  that  slavery — subordination  to  the  superior  race 
— is  his  natural  and  normal  condition.” 

Beginning  with  Count  Gobineau,  in  1854,  a small 
school  of  anthropologists  have  undertaken  to  ^prove 
that,  by  the  fiat  of  God,  there  are  inferior  and  Super- 
ior branches  of  the  human  race.  These  savants  base 
their  arguments  upon  cephalometry,  orthognathism, 
that  is,  measurements  of  the  head,  the  face,  the  jaws, 
etc.  They  measure  the  nose.  The  longer  the  nose 
the  more  he  knows.  The  flatter  the  nose  the  less  he 
knows.  They  measure  the  height,  the  breast,  the  ear, 
, the  feet.  They  note  his  color,  his  eyes,  his  smell. 


) 


They  bring  to  their  aid  arguments  physiological,  path- 
ological, psychological.  They  argue  for  polygenesis, 
denying  monogenesis  of  the  human  race.  Hence,  they 
have  engendered  race  friction,  race  hatred,  between 
the  white  and  the  brown,  and  the  black  and  often  be- 
tween branches  of  the  same  color.  This  hatred  is  one 
time  turned  against  the  Jews,  another,  against  the 
Japanese,  or  again,  against  the  Negro. 

CAUSES  OF  RACE  VARIATION. 

The  causes  of  the  variations  in  the  different 
branches  of  the  human  race  are  many  and  apparent. 
Action  of  climate,  diseases,  nourishment,  mode  of  life, 
the  whole  environment,  the  milieu,  as  the  French 
would  say,  are  causes  of  race  variation.  We  now 
know  that  in  Africa  there  are  all  kinds  of  colors  and 
hair  depending  upon  the  environment.  The 
Scandinavian,  living  among  his  snow-capped  hills,  is 
almost  colorless.  The  Antisians  of  Peru,  living  at 
the  point  of  rocks,  beneath  a forest  impenetrable  to 
the  rays  of  the  sun,  are  whiter  than  those  of  their 
own  blood  about  them.  We  are  affected  by  our  geo- 
logical habitat.  As  the  minerals  and  moisture  of 
certain  soils  produce  a small,  scrubby  forest,  so  “ a 
granite  and  sterile  soil  producing  only  rye,  buckwheat, 
potatoes,  and  chestnuts”  produces  a people  remarkable 
for  their  narrow  shoulders,  tight  chests,  lymphatic 
temperament.  Potassium,  iron,  magnesia,  lime,  sul- 
phur, arsenic,  the  rays  of  the  sun,  the  winds,  the 
forests,  the  rivers,  all  affect  our  size,  color,  nose,  liead(, 
feet,  chest,  temperament. 

1 

I 


(2) 


There  are,  to-day,  we  are  told,  men  of  purest  Jewish 
blood  whose  color  is  the  whitest  of  the  white,  the 
brownest  of  the  brown,  the  blackest  of  the  black.  A 
careful  study  of  science  and  history  indicates  that  the 
centuries  to  come  will  produce  a typical  American 
whose  color  will  be  red. 

But  moral  influence  has  greatest  effect  in  producting 
race  variety.  Norton  tells  us  that  Negro  children 
born  in  liberty  have  more  beautiful  eyes,  a more  ele- 
gant appearance,  and  an  easier  bearing. 

UNITY  OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE. 

The  arguments  for  the  unity  of  the  race  are  many 
and  convincing.  The  blood  of  a dog  injected  into 
the  veins  of  a Frenchman  will  destroy  the  one  or  both. 
The  blood  of  a Negro  or  Jap  may  be  injected  into  a 
Frenchman’s  veins  with  impunity.  Liebnitz,  Blu- 
menbach,  Agassiz,  Finot,  all  the  leading  anthropolo- 
gists of  the  world  tell  us  that  there  is  but  one  human 
race.  No  two  black-eyed  peas  are  alike  and  yet  they 
are  peas.  The  babies  of  all  races  cry  alike. 

There  are  forward  and  backward  branches  of  the 
race  caused  by  environment.  But  will  the  backward 
always  remain  backward?  The  Japs  were  backward 
sixty  years  ago.  Are  they  backward  to-day? 

THE  NEGRO  OF  PURE  BLOOD. 

The  Negro  is  a branch  of  the  human  race,  and  has, 
therefore,  inherently,  all  the  capabilities  of  the  other 
branches.  This  is  attested  by  the  achievements  of 
many  Negroes  of  purest  blood.  John  C.  Calhoun  once 
said:  “If  I could  find  a Negro  who  knew  Greek 

(3) 


Syntax,  I would  believe  the  Negro  was  a human  being 
and  ought  to  be  treated  as  a man.”  To-day,  in  re- 
sponse to  the  promise  of  such  distinguished  consid- 
eration, we  can  present  an  overwhelming  array  of 
scholars,  publicists,  generals,  etc.  There  was  Clitus 
the  black  general  of  the  Army  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  Phillis  Wheatly,  the  little  African  girl,  whose 
poetry  extorted  praise  from  General  George  Wash- 
ington, Benjamin  Banneker,  the  astronomer  and 
friend  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  Congressman  R.  B.  El- 
liot, J.  C.  Price,  the  orator,  Edward  W.  Blyden,  whom 
Europe  regards  as  one  of  the  greatest  scholars  of  the 
world.  J.  W.  E.  Bowen,  the  theologian,  M.  C.  B. 
Mason,  the  publicist,  Dunbar,  the  poet,  Toussaint  L. 
Ouveidure,  the  warrior,  several  distinguished  men 
wearing  the  honor  of  knighthood  conferred  by  Queen 
Victoria,  and  legions  of  others. 

NEGROES  OF  MIXED  BLOOD. 

But  you  say  these  are  of  purest  Negro  blood;  the 
cross-breed,  the  mulatto,  the  octaroon  is  a failure, 
weakling  physically  and  mentally.  Where  are  the 
distinguished  mixed  bloods  ? Here  they  are : ‘ ‘ Ish- 

mael,  son  of  Abraham  by  Hagar,  Menelek,  son  of  Solo- 
mon and  the  African  Queen  of  Sheba,  Alexander 
Dumas,  the  French  novelist,  Robert  Browning,  the 
English  poet,  Poushkin,  Russia’s  greatest  poet,  Ira 
Aldridge,  the  actor,  Sainte-George,  the  first  vice- 
president  of  the  French  Deputies,  a president  each  of 
Bolivia,  Venezuela,  and  Mexico,  H.  0.  Tanner,  who 
as  artist,  is  the  wonder  of  Europe,  Edmonia  Lewis, 
the  sculpturess,  Fred  Douglass,  America’s  greatest 

(4) 


orator,  W.  E.  D.  Du  Bois,  Booker  T.  Washington, 
and  Alexander  Hamilton,  America’s  great  statesman, 
and  greatest  financier! 

Now,  this  argument  is  not  made  in  advocacy  of 
amalgamation.  But  it  is  made  to  show  that  whether 
amalgamated  or  not,  every  man,  of  every  branch  of 
the  human  race,  of  every  color,  who  wears  the  mark 
of  divinity,  apart  from  external  influences,  is  inher- 
ently as  good  as  any  other  man.  Nor  is  this  trying 
to  run  away  from  the  Negro  race.  It  is  the  proper 
exaltation  of  the  man  of  whatever  human  variety. 

“a  man’s  a man  for  a’  that.” 

I have  never  believed  a Negro  was  superior  to  the 
white  man — never!  I have  never  believed  the  Jap- 
anese was  superior  to  the  Englishman — never. 

“Noble  blood,  bah!  What  blood  is  more  noble,  or 
so  pure  as  that  of  the  lion  ? And  yet  he  is  only  a 
brute.  It  is  merit,  education,  virtue,  not  blood,  that 
lifts  men  above  the  level  of  the  brutes!” 

So  we  may  conclude  that  the  Negro  scholar,  the 
Negro  Seer  has  inherently  all  the  possibilities  possessed 
by  any  other  branch  of  the  human  race. 

DARE  THE  HERO’S  TASK. 

So  young  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  Negro  branch 
of  the  human  race,  “pregnant  with  celestial  fire,” 
wearing  the  mark  of  divinity,  you  I address  to-day. 
1 ou  I summons  to  vindicate  your  heirship  to  all  the 
heroes  and  heroines  of  the  past  of  whatever  branch  of 
the  human  race.  You  I call  to  high  endeavor.  You 
I call  to  dare  the  hero  s task.  The  world  despises 

(5) 


a 


weakling,  a coward.  Effort  is  necessary  to  growth. 
As  Robert  Browning  says: 

“No.  Wien  the  fight  begins  within  himself, 

A man’s  worth  something,  God  looks  o’er  his  head. 

Satan  looks  up  between  his  feet — both  tug — 

He’s  left  himself  i’  the  middle;  the  soul  wakes 
And  grows.  Prolong  that  battle  his  life.” 

As  Emerson  says:  “Hitch  your  wagon  to  a star.” 
Dare  to  be  a scholar,  to  take  any  course  that  produces 
best  results.  There  has  been  such  a hue  and  cry 
against  the  higher  education  of  the  Negro  that  one 
is  almost  afraid  to  undertake  to  launch  out  into  the 
deep.  Drink  deep  at  the  Pyerian  Springs.  Study  any- 
thing that  is  necessary  to  produce  thought-power. 

THINKERS  RULE  THE  WORLD. 

Great  financial  enterprises  gravitate  about  thinkers. 
The  progress  of  the  world  regulates  its  footsteps  by 
the  pulse-beats  of  the  thinker.  The  x-Ray  by  which 
we  see  the  lungs  of  the  living,  the  ship  in  which  we 
sail  in  mid-heaven,  wireless  telegraphy  by  which  we 
send  our  messages  through  the  trackless  air,  the  sub- 
marine boat  in  which  we  fight  our  battles  beneath  the 
waters — these  are  matters  of  grey-matter. 

The  realm  of  scholarship  lies  free  before  us.  The 
gate  swings  wide  at  the  approach  of  the  earnest  seek- 
er. “No  second  class  on  board  the  train;  no  differ- 
ence in  the  fare.”  There  are  no  mergers  in  schol- 
arship. The  trusts  may  control  the  landscape,  but 
not  the  beauty  of  the  flowers.  No  legislative  enact- 
ment can  control  aesthetic  taste,  noble  feeling,  high 
thinking,  honest  effort. 


(0) 


BEING  WEIGHED  IN  THE  BALANCES. 

Benjamin  Hill,  Senator  from  Georgia,  is  reported 
to  have  remarked  that  twenty  ordinary  white  men 
are  worth  more  to  civilization  than  all  the  Negroes 
who  have  lived  in  the  last  six  thousand  years.  The 
remark  is  not  true,  but  is  indicative  of  a prevalent 
feeling  in  many  quarters.  We  are  being  weighed  in 
the  balances.  The  test  is  rigid  and  exacting.  We 
must  stand  up  or  fall  down.  We  must  run  or  get 
off  the  track.  There  is  no  mercy,  no  quarter.  We 
ask  no  quarter.  All  we  want  is  a fair  chance  to 
run.  If  we  cannot  hold  out,  let  us  fall  by  the  way- 
side.  But  we  can,  we  must,  we  will.  Let  us  prepare 
for  the  contest. 

NECESSARY  PREPARATION. 

I do  not  mean  the  preparation  merely  of  the  routine 
class  work.  I refer  to  the  spirit  and  attitude  toward 
the  work  before  us.  In  our  preparation  we  must 
understand  that  right  will  ultimately  win.  Might  is 
no  longer  right.  Right  is  right.  The  King  of  Bel- 
gium is  responsible  to  all  the  world  for  the  horrors 
of  the  Congo.  Russia  must  answer  to  the  world  for 
the  horrors  of  Kishinev.  Individuals  and  nations  are 
accountable  to  the  “parliament  of  man,  the  federa- 
tion of  the  world.” 

“Truth  crushed  to  earth  will  rise  again, 

The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers; 

But  error,  wounded,  writhes  in  pain, 

And  dies  among  his  worshippers.” 


(7) 


No  man  ever  followed  the  path  of  virtue  in  vain. 
Men  and  nations  ultimately  get  what  they  deserve. 
There  is  power  in  goodness.  Greatness  is  goodness. 
Goodness  wins.  Character  tells.  Character  compels. 

If  this  be  true,  God,  the  source  of  all  goodness 
should  hold  first  place  in  our  preparation.  What 
God  wills  finally  triumphs  in  history.  God  is  not 
ancient  history.  Was  is  the  wrong  tense  for  God. 
God  is.  God  works  to-day  in  the  hearts  of  individuals, 
in  the  universe.  As  President  Hyde  says : ‘ ‘ The  man 
who  makes  the  will  of  God  the  basis  of  his  character 
and  the  motive  of  his  conduct  carries  with  him  the 
germ  of  Christianity;  for  this  principle,  rightly  ap- 
prehended, covers  the  whole  life.  The  man  who  has 
it  will  be  kind  and  considerate  in  his  home,  upright 
and  honest  in  his  work,  public  spirited  in  civic  and 
political  relations,  socially  courteous  and  sincere, 
sympathetic  with  the  suffering,  generous  to  the  poor, 
helpful  to  the  weak.  On  the  other  hand,  he  will  re- 
sist oppression,  expose  hypocrisy,  denounce  injustice, 
rebuke  fraud,  fight  for  timely  and  rational  reform. 
He  will  do  these  things  whether  they  are  profitable 
or  costly,  popular  or  unpopular;  whether  they  bring 
thanks  or  curses,  praise  or  blame ; whether  men  strew 
his  path  with  palms  and  hail  him  with  hosannas,  or 
crown  him  with  thorns  and  nail  him  to  the  cross.” 
We  live  to  make  others  richer,  happier,  better;  to 
elevate  the  beautiful,  to  enthrone  truth.  “Thus  the 
person  who  has  grown  up  through  faithful  doing  of 
the  right  into  loving  devotion  to  the  good,  finds  every 
place  a holy  place,  every  bush  upon  the  roadside 

(8) 


ablaze  with  God,  every  circumstance,  where  duty 
can  be  done  and  good  can  be  accomplished,  a gate- 
way to  heaven,  an  approach  to  the  throne  of  the 
Most  High!” 

The  love  of  God  embraces  The  Altruistic  Spirit. 
Our  courses  of  study  should  be  such  that  no  one 
should  receive  a diploma  from  any  college  unless  the 
sweep  of  his  love  takes  in  all  men.  Hate  kills;  kills 
the  hater  more  that  the  hated.  Love  ennobles ; ennobles 
the  lover  more  than  the  loved.  Some  one  has  said : 
“I  love  a good  hater.”  That’s  wrong.  The  world 
loves  a good  lover. 

Jesus  is  the  incarnation  of  altruistic  love.  His 
character  shall  ultimately  fill  the  whole  earth ; dom- 
inate every  interest.  Him  we  should  love.  Him  we 
should  study.  We  study  the  life  of  Washington.  We 
should  study  the  life  of  Jesus  more.  Washington 
ruled  a small  segment  of  the  human  race. 

“Jesus  shall  reign  wher’er  the  sun, 

Doth  his  successive  journeys  run ; 

His  kingdoms  spread  from  shore  to  shore, 

Till  moons  shall  wax  and  wane  no  more.” 

We  should  cut  out  of  our  vocabulary  such  words  as 
“sheeny,”  “dago,”  “hill  billy,”  “poor  buckra,” 
“nigger,”  etc.  They  are  not  fit  expressions  of  a 
scholar  and  a gentleman.  They  do  not  fit  a man 
wearing  the  image  of  God. 

DESTRUCTIVE  RACE  HATRED. 

He  who  thus  stirs  up  race  hatred  is  an  enemy  to  the 
world.  Alcibiades  arrayed  the  poor  of  Athens  against 

(9) 


the  rich.  Athens  was  at  her  zenith.  When  the  con- 
flict was  over,  Athens  was  in  a mass  of  ruins  and  rich 
and  poor  alike  were  homeless.  The  rich  of  Paris 
sneered  at  the  poor.  Voltaire  called  them  a “mixture 
of  bear  and  monkey.”  Foulon  said,  “Let  the  people 
eat  grass.”  But  “the  people  hung  him,  stuck  his 
head  upon  a spike  and  stuffed  his  mouth  with  grass 
amid  the  plaudits  of  a grass-eating  people.”  France 
was  drenched  in  blood,  her  nobles  were  beheaded,  her 
fame  degraded. 

The  prophets  of  evil,  of  racial  wars,  the  fomentors 
of  discontent,  of  our  country,  of  whatever  element  of 
the  human  race,  should  be  relegated  to  the  rear. 

The  Atlanta  riot  will  be  an  exception.  Ex-Governor 
Northen,  a committee  of  noble  white  and  colored  men 
are  getting  together  to  prevent  another  calamity  like 
that  one.  Soon  the  better  angel  in  all  of  us  will  be 
aroused.  Hence,  I look  to  the  future  with  joyous  an- 
ticipation. This  nation  will  not  be  destroyed  in  hatred 
by  fire,  and  shot  and  shell.  Too  much  love  and  mercy 
and  Christ  abound. 

Therefore,  to  be  successful,  we  need,  in  our  prepara- 
tion to  strike  a Hopeful  Attitude  with  Regard  to  Our 
Environments.  We  should  be  optimistic.  Laugh  a 
great  deal.  Sing.  Pray.  Don’t  pine.  To  pine  is  to 
lose  time. 

We  should  seek  peace  between  the  white  and  black 
people  of  our  country.  Peace  is  essential  to  mental, 
spiritual,  and  material  growth.  Without  peace  all 
is  lost.  Why  should  not  the  whites  and  blacks  exer- 
cise a little  common  sense  and  treat  each  other  right? 

(10) 


BE  A HELP  TO  ONE  ANOTHER. 

That  is  what  we  must  do  and  will  do.  Racial  con- 
ditions in  the  South  furnish  a splendid  opportunity 
to  test  the  greatness  of  the  white  race.  The  Greeks 
secured  liberty  to  the  Greeks;  all  others  to  them  were 
barbarians.  The  Romans  secured  liberty  to  the  Ro- 
mans; all  others  were  despised.  The  white  American 
can  prove  himself  superior  to  the  Greek  and  the  Ro- 
man, can  prove  his  religion  superior  only  if  he  is 
strong  enough  to  treat  with  absolute  justice  the  back- 
ward, undeveloped  black  man.  The  black  man  should 
see  to  it  that  no  blame  attaches  to  him.  He  should 
deserve  the  best,  be  worthy  a man’s  treatment.  If  he 
does  this,  there  are  evidences  that  the  white  man  will 
give  him  a man’s  chance. 

FRIENDSHIP  OF  THE  WHITE  SOUTH. 

The  positive  evidence  of  the  sincere  friendship  of 
the  white  South  for  the  black  man  is  afforded  in  what 
is  being  done  for  his  education  through  the  public 
schools  of  which  Prairie  View  College  is  a distin- 
guished example.  The  spirit  which  makes  Prairie 
View  possible,  which  sustains  this  magnificent  plant, 
is  the  altruistic  spirit,  the  dominant  spirit  of  Texas 
and  the  South.  We  are  proud  of  the  men  who  are 
back  of  this  school,  proud  of  its  noble  faculty  and 
student-body ; and,  above  all,  we  are  proud  to  believe 
that  Prairie  View  State  College  is  only  the  projection 
of  the  spirit  of  fair  play,  of  love,  of  sympathy  on 
the  part  of  the  white  man  of  the  South  toward  his 
brother  in  black.  This  generous  spirit  is  attested  by 
such  distinguished  Southern  white  men  as  Prof.  Ed- 


gar  Gardner  Murphy,  who  says:  “The  educational 

policy  of  a genuine  patriotism  will  include  all  the 
children  of  the  unprivileged,  white  as  well  as  black.'’ 
By  Bishop  C.  B.  Galloway,  who  says:  “We  must 

insist  that  the  Negro  have  equal  opportunity  with 
every  American  citizen  to  fulfill  in  himself  the  high- 
est purposes  of  an  all-wise  and  beneficent  Providence.  ” 
* * * “ Indisputable  facts  attest  the  statement  that 
education  and  its  attendant  influences  have  elevated 
the  standard  and  tone  of  morals  among  the  Negroes 
in  the  South.”  By  ex-Congressman  Fleming,  of 
Georgia,  who  says:  “Let  us  solve  the  Negro  problem 
by  giving  the  Negro  justice  and  applying  to  him  the 
recognized  principles  of  the  moral  law. 

‘ ‘ This  does  not  require  social  equality.  It  does  not 
require  that  we  should  surrender  into  his  inexperi- 
enced and  incompetent  hands  the  reins  of  political 
government.  But  it  does  require  that  we  recognize 
his  fundamental  rights  as  a man,  and  that  we  judge 
each  individual  according  to  his  own  qualifications, 
and  not  according  to  the  lower  average  characteristics 
of  his  race.  Political  rights  can  not  justly  be  with- 
held from  those  American  citizens  of  an  inferior  or 
backward  race  who  raise  themselves  up  to  the  stand- 
ard of  citizenship  which  the  superior  race  applies 
to  its  own  members.  ’ ’ 

RACE  DISCRIMINATION  AN  ASSET. 

In  our  preparation,  we  must  remember  that  while 
we  may  not  approve  race  discrimination,  it  is  never- 
theless, a valuable  asset.  If  we  cannot  get  a sleeper, 
we  must  rough  it,  discipline  our  temper,  harden  our 

(12) 


character,  and  save  our  money.  The  refusal  of  a 
clerk  to  fit  shoes  on  a colored  girl  was  the  cause  of 
a prosperous  shoe  store  run  by  Negroes.  The  refusal 
to  rent  to  Negroes  was  the  cause  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Metropolitan  Mercantile  and  Realty  Com- 
pany of  New  York,  whose  assets  run  into  thousands. 

The  protest  against  Negro  writers  in  the  Sunday 
School  literature  of  the  Baptist  Publication  Society 
caused  the  organization  of  the  Negro  Baptist  Publi- 
cation Society.  It  is  a fine,  exhilerating,  strenuous 
job  to  be  a Negro.  Our  white  friends  ought  to  try 
it  awhile.  One  month  would  do.  It  is  calculated 
to  bring  out  the  best  in  a man. 

“Sweet  are  the  uses  of  adversity, 

Which,  like  the  toad,  ugly  and  venomous, 
Wears  yet  a precious  jewel  in  his  head.” 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  SACRIFICE. 

In  our  preparation  there  should  be  the  spirit  of 
sacrifice.  The  Roman  exclaimed:  “Dulce  et  decorum 
est  pro  patria  mori.”  It  should  be  sweet  to  us  to  sacri- 
fice for  our  people.  We  should  cry  with  Knox,  “Lord 
give  me  Scotland  or  I die.”  We  cannot  give  our  mil- 
lions like  Carnegie,  but  we  can  do  more  important 
service — we  can  give  ourselves,  our  love,  our  thought, 
our  spirit.  Says  Carlyle:  “It  is  only  with  renuncia- 
tion that  life,  properly  speaking,  can  be  said  to  be- 
gin. * * * In  a valiant  suffering  for  others,  not 

in  a slothful  making  others  suffer  for  us,  did  nobleness 
ever  lie.”  This  is  all  comprehended  in  the  words  of 
Jesus,  “Whosoever  will  come  after  Me,  let  him  deny 
himself.  ’ ’ 


(13) 


THE  MISSION. 


With  full  confidence  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of 
right,  trusting  in  God  the  source  of  all  goodness,  with 
goodwill  toward  all  men,  with  a hopeful  attitude  to- 
ward our  environment,  realizing  that  race  discrimin- 
ation is  rather  a valuable  asset  than  a calamity,  in 
the  spirit  of  sacrifice,  we  go  forth  to  the  struggle, 
to  grapple  with  conditions  about  us,  to  prove  our 
worth  as  American  citizens.  And  we  are  willing  to 
stand  or  fall  upon  our  merits. 

From  our  scholars  must  come  our  professional  men, 
lawyers,  doctors,  poets,  historians,  painters,  musicians, 
scientists,  orators,  philosophers,  prophets,  seers.  Above 
all  we  need  seers;  men  with  insight  and  foresight; 
leaders,  pure,  wise,  true,  incorruptible,  unpurchas- 
able.  Such  seers  will  see  that  their  first  basic,  funda- 
mental duty  is  to  teach  the  Dignity  and  Necessity  of 
Labor.  Often  young  men  and  women  start  out  to  be 
teachers,  lawyers,  doctors,  or  to  engage  in  other  pro- 
fessions and  fail.  Why  ? They  are  unwilling  to  work, 
to  do  the  drudgery  connected  with  each  profession. 
No  man  is  fit  to  be  a preacher  who  is  unwilling  to 
wear  a pair  of  overalls.  Oh,  the  constant  grind,  mak- 
ing the  fire,  washing  the  dishes,  feeding  the  pigs, 
sweeping  the  house,  the  ink  on  the  fingers,  correcting 
papers,  correcting  misrepresentation  of  students  who 
failed  to  pass,  taking  church  collections,  cleaning  the 
harness,  getting  up  cold  nights  to  see  the  patient, 
chopping  the  cotton,  toil,  drudgery,  day  in,  day  out! 
Oh  beneficent  toil  by  which  we  are  educated!  Wel- 
come, Toil!  Welcome,  Drudgery!  There  is  pleasure 

(14) 


in  work.  There  is  virtue  in  it.  There  is  character 
in  it.  Work  is  life.  Idleness  is  death.  The  les- 
son of  punctuality  and  reliability  must  be  enforced. 
We  must  do  our  work  so  well  that  our  services  will  be 
in  demand  at  all  times.  We  must  work  with  that  love 
which  rejoices  in  work  well  done.  Unreliability,  shift- 
lessness, the  “laying-off  habit,”  and  debauchery,  are 
destructive  to  the  labor  interests  of  the  Negro  to-day. 
The  labor  of  the  South  is  the  natural  heritage  of  the 
Negro.  But,  henceforth,  to  get  it,  he  must  compete 
with  the  Italian,  the  Chinese,  the-  Japanese.  Shall 
we  be  able  to  stand  the  test?  The  fittest  will  survive. 

In  this  connection  we  see  the  great  importance  to 
us  of  industrial  schools  and  technical  schools.  Every 
boy  and  every  girl  of  the  race  should  learn  to  do  some 
one  thing  better  than  any  one  else. 

Here,  too,  we  can  see  the  wisdom  of  the  action  of 
our  State  in  making  instruction  in  agriculture  com- 
pulsory in  the  public  schools.  It  is  our  business  to 
make  practical  and  efficient  the  study  of  agriculture 
at  the  earliest  moment.  In  the  world  of  labor,  we 
must  be  able  to  produce  results. 

BUILDING  OF  HAPPY  HOMES. 

The  building  of  happy  homes  is  the  next  mission. 
The  most  serious  mistake  of  the  Negro  to-day  is  his 
failure  to  buy  land.  The  only  fixed  and  stable  citi- 
zens of  any  country  are  the  land  owners.  We  should 
buy  land  anywhere,  everywhere,  much  or  little,  rich 
or  poor,  and  when  we  get  it,  keep  it.  Get  a lot,  a 
few  acres,  or  many  acres.  On  it  built  a home.  Beau- 
tify the  house,  plant  flowers,  set  out  an  orchard,  paint 

(15) 


the  fence,  adorn  that  house  with  a few  good  books; 
found  it  upon  honesty,  truthfulness,  cheerfulness,  so- 
briety, family  prayer,  the  sweet  songs  of  Zion;  let 
Jesus  be  the  constant  unseen  guest;  let  love  of  a dear 
mother,  of  a precious  wife,  of  innocent,  prattling,  smil- 
ing children  sanctify  that  home;  let  patience,  tender- 
ness and  mercy  guide  it;  let  filial  love  and  parental 
affection  guard  its  threshold,  and  you  have  laid  the 
foundation  of  a prosperous  and  great  people.  Be  it 
remembered,  too,  that  the  happiest  homes  are  not  al- 
ways the  richest.  The  happiest  homes  are  those  where 
dwell  love,  harmony,  kindness,  unselfishness.  Riches? 
What  is  mother  worth?  Don’t  you  remember  when 
she  tucked  the  cover  under  your  feet  at  night,  made 
the  tea  for  you  when  you  were  sick,  followed  you  to 
the  gate  when  you  left  home  the  last  time?  Riches? 
What  would  you  take  for  that  smiling,  chirping  baby  ? 
And  wife  ? She  is  the  best  wife,  encourages  you,  meets 
you  with  a smile,  helps  bear  your  burdens.  Ah,  that 
is  love.  That  is  life.  Here  prosperity  has  its  tap 
root ! 

PROPER  TRAINING  OF  THE  YOUTH. 

The  proper  rearing  and  training  of  our  youth  is 
an  important  essential.  We  begin  to  educate  our 
children  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  before  they 
are  born.  The  sins  of  the  parents  are  visited  upon 
the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generations. 
Train  carefully,  drill  constantly  the  child  in  the  path 
of  rectitude,  in  its  formative  period,  and  when  it  is 
old,  it  will  not  depart  from  the  proper  path. 

There  is  a woeful  neglect  of  our  youth  to-day.  It  is 
(16) 


amazing  that  any  of  our  young  people  master  the 
forces  of  evil  that  would  drag  them  down. 

Luther  Burbanks,  the  artisan  of  the  vegetable 
world,  by  tender,  thoughtful  care,  year  in  and  year 
out,  has  produced  the  pomato  from  the  potato  and 
tomato;  has  made  the  rough,  thorny  cactus,  thornless 
and  edible ; has  changed  the  character  of  plants  whose 
wretched  odor  has  been  offensive  for  six  thousand 
years,  into  a perfume,  the  sweetest  of  the  sweet.  In 
fact,  from  a lower  order  of  plant  life,  by  diligent  care, 
he  is  producing  an  order  of  nobility  in  the  plant 
world.  Do  our  parents  care  thus  for  their  children? 
A mother  artist  has  a tender  flower  upon  her  veranda. 
Three  times  a day  she  waters  it,  nurses  it,  watches 
it.  How  she  loves  it!  It  blooms.  She  calls  in  her 
neighbors.  How  they  rejoice ! But  her  own  darling 
son,  blood  of  her  blood,  flesh  of  her  flesh,  within  him 
an  immortal  soul — does  she  care  for  him?  Does  she 
pray  with  him  three  times  a day?  Does  she  till  the 
soil  in  which  he  grows?  Does  she  take  him  to  Sun- 
day School  and  church  with  her  until  he  is  twenty- 
one?  Does  she  know  where  he  is  on  Sunday?  And 
the  daughter — I pity  the  Negro  girl  with  beautiful 
form  and  face.  I must  enter  this  field  in  euphemis- 
tic terms.  Often  without  the  watchful  care  of  father 
or  mother  she  is  hounded  from  pillar  to  post  by 
demons.  Notwithstanding  her  temptations,  the  aver- 
age girl  is  permitted  to  go  about  to  parties,  moonlight 
picnics,  or  excursions,  church  suppers  without  father 
or  mother,  or  chaperon.  She  is  too  often  kicked 
about  like  a foot-ball.  To  get  our  mothers  and 

(17) 


fathers  to  hold  tight  rein  upon  their  children 
to  regulate  the  relation  of  our  boys  and  girls  and  our 
young  men  and  women,  in  fine  to  give  a proper  con- 
ception of  what  it  means  to  rear  children — this  is  the 
mission  of  the  scholar,  the  seer  of  the  race.  Unless 
we  rear  our  children  properly  in  the  home,  put  them 
in  the  public  schools,  bring  them  into  the  folds  of  the 
Sunday  School  and  the  church,  keep  them  at  profit- 
able, honest  labor  of  some  kind,  on  the  farms,  or  in 
the  shops,  somewhere,  anywhere,  and  hold  them  there 
until  their  character  is  hardened  in  principles  of  duty 
and  righteousness,  sad,  sad  will  be  our  future.  To 
do  this  is  a task  worthy  of  our  best  thought,  our  best 
efforts.  It  involves  the  divorce  question,  the  sanctity 
of  marriage  ties.  This  is  the  main  remedy  for  vagran- 
cy and  criminality.  Some  say  we  need  a better  class 
of  young  people.  I say  we  need  a better  class  of 
fathers  and  mothers.  The  remedy  is  a matter  of  slow 
growth,  of  character  building.  We  must  make  better 
men  and  better  women,  and  then  we  shall  have  less 
criminality. 

CIVIC  DUTIES. 

Our  people  should  be  taught  their  civic  duties.  We 
should  have  pride  in  our  city,  county,  state,  nation. 
Every  question  which  affects  the  weal  of  our  country 
should  concern  us.  We  are  a part  of  this  government. 
Those  who  would  make  us  pariahs,  aliens,  outcasts, 
and  disfranchise  us  are  doomed  finally  to  failure.  We 
are  either  citizens  or  not.  If  citizens,  we  must  ul- 
timately be  permitted  to  vote,  and  help  elect  our 
rulers.  Sin  against  any  part  of  our  legal  citizens 

‘(IS) 


will  rebound  on  the  sinner.  If  the  Negro  proves 
worthy  the  ballot,  in  self  defense,  the  dominant  party 
will  be  compelled  to  permit  him  to  vote  or  else  they 
should  burn  up  the  Constitution  of  the  Nation.  Tax- 
ation without  representation  is  no  better  for  the  white 
man  than  the  Negro.  If  the  Negro  population  is  good 
enough  to  be  counted  to  determine  representation  in 
our  national  Congress,  it  is  good  enough  to  help  choose 
that  representation.  This  principle  will  yet  win. 
Hypocrisy  and  double-dealing  by  the  nation  cannot 
live.  Hence  we  look  to  the  future  with  a patriotic, 
abiding  faith  in  our  government,  with  deep  interest 
in  good  roads,  deep  water,  purity  of  the  ballot.  Every 
Negro  should  pay  his  taxes.  He  should  be  interested 
in  all  reform  movements.  He  should  hold  at  every 
possible  opportunity  an  unpurchasable  ballot  to  be 
cast  for  the  good  of  his  country. 

In  a recent  local  option  campaign,  it  was  said,  “Let 
the  local  optionists,  speak,  sing,  and  pray,  we  will 
carry  the  election.  We  can  buy  the  niggers.’’  Any 
man  who  will  sell  his  blood-stained  ballot  for  any 
price  whatever  is  not  fit  to  vote,  should  be  disfran- 
chised. This  doctrine  should  be  preached  from  every 
hill-top. 

We  should  bear  a man’s  share  of  the  burdens  of 
government.  We  should  help  to  make  our  government 
pure  by  first  being  pure  ourselves.  Our  influence 
should  be  ever  against  the  saloon,  the  king-devil  of 
all  evils,  the  worst  enemy  of  the  human  race. 

INTEREST  IN  WORLD  MOVEMENTS. 

Then  our  vision  and  interest  should  sweep  out  and 
(19) 


take  in  world  movements.  Whatever  concerns  mankind 
concerns  us.  No  man  can  grow  large  whose  interest 
does  not  go  beyond  his  own  roof-tree.  Trembling  San 
Francisco,  or  starving  China  should  find  a place  in 
our  helpful  sympathy.  We  rise  only  as  we  lift  others 
up.  Love  increases  by  loving.  The  continent  of  Af- 
rica should  be  of  deepest  interest  to  every  thoughtful 
Negro.  We  need  Africa  as  much  as  Africa  needs  us. 
Africa  is  opportunity.  It  will  be  the  storm  center  of 
the  great  movements  of  the  next  century. 

Eich  in  resources,  romantic  and  mysterious,  with 
every  possible  climate,  teeming  with  millions  of  hu- 
man beings,  the  coveted  prize  of  every  civilized  na- 
tion, with  railroads  being  built  from  Cairo  to  the  cape, 
with  an  ever  widening  commerce,  Africa  offers  to  the 
young  Negro  lawyer,  doctor,  editor,  educator,  states- 
man, missionary,  scientist,  inventor,  farmer,  a career 
of  greatest  usefulness  and  fame.  The  inspiration  of 
black  Livingstone  in  Africa  is  necessary  to  the  man- 
hood-growth of  the  black  man  in  America.  What  a 
thrilling  mission  have  we  in  Africa  in  America  and 
Africa  beyond  the  seas! 

Some  two  or  three  years  ago  the  Iroquois  Theater 
burned  down  in  Chicago.  A thousand  men,  women, 
and  children  sat  in  this  playhouse  witnessing  “Blue- 
beard.” Suddenly  flames  enveloped  the  interior  of 
the  building.  The  lives  of  nearly  seven  hundred  per- 
sons were  suddenly  scorched  out.  Their  charred  re- 
mains were  found  sitting  lifeless  in  their  seats.  Near 
an  exit  sat  a young  man  of  eighteen  summers,  Mc- 
Laughlin by  name,  son  of  a missionary  in  South 

(20) 


America.  Kev.  Frank  Gunsaulus  was  his  uncle.  He 
soon  found  his  way  out  to  safety,  but  his  heart  was 
pained  by  the  piteous  screams  of  mourning  women 
and  children.  He  rushed  back  and  dragged  to  the 
air  and  life  a woman,  then  a child,  then  another,  and 
another.  His  hair  was  singed,  his  hands  crisp,  his 
clothes  afire.  Bystanders  begged  him  not  to  go  in 
any  more.  But  he  brought  to  safety  another  and  fell 
almost  lifeless  himself.  He  was  placed  in  an  ambu- 
lance and  hastened  to  a hospital  where  he  died  within 
a few  hours.  Just  before  he  died,  he  whispered  faintly 
“Tell  Uncle  Frank  Gunsaulus  I died  trying  to  save 
others.”  Then  again,  more  faintly  still,  “Tell  Uncle 
Frank  Gunsaulus  I died  trying  to  save  others.” 
Young  men  and  women,  Prophets  and  Priests  of 
our  race,  the  fires  of  sin,  of  ignorance,  of  poverty, 
of  thriftlessness  are  scorching  out  the  lives  of  our 
people  in  the  dark  counties  of  the  Brazos,  in  the  alleys 
of  the  cities,  in  America,  beyond  the  sea.  You  are 
divinely  commissioned  to  rescue  them,  to  go  to  them, 
in  the  spirit  of  the  Lowly  One,  to  encourage  them, 
to  show  them  a better  way,  to  rejoice  with  them,  to 
sorrow  with  them,  to  give  them,  in  working  out  a 
noble  destiny,  your  life,  your  all,  and  bequeath  to  pos- 
terity the  noble  sentiment — 

“I  died  trying  to  save  others.” 


(21) 


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